Dialing for Dollars

[chris319]

Dialing for Dollars on KTVU, Oakland, consited entirely of movie wrap-arounds and there were never credits for Claster or anyone else. But it definitely was a Claster property.

[Don Howard]

I'd have loved to see GSN incorporate a Dialing For Dollars feature during a game block back when there were many live segments and it could  have been done. "Are you watching Now You See It with us today? No? Well, perhaps you can tell us how much money we have in our jackpot".

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Mar 11 2004, 03:14 AM\'] I'd have loved to see GSN incorporate a Dialing For Dollars feature during a game block back when there were many live segments and it could  have been done. "Are you watching Now You See It with us today? No? Well, perhaps you can tell us how much money we have in our jackpot". [/quote]
 Yup, I can see it now...

Host spins the wheel, gets 3-up, and goes over to a drum about the size of Madison Square Garden..."We've cut up phone books from every city in America..."


(at least until the day he leaves the door to the drum open and is buried under an avalanche of paper...)

I think strange things at 3:40 am.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Mar 11 2004, 04:37 AM\'] Host spins the wheel, gets 3-up, and goes over to a drum about the size of Madison Square Garden..."We've cut up phone books from every city in America..."


 [/quote]
 No, silly, viewers would send in post cards that would be randomly selected from a drum. Or perhaps a tuba.

[joe_capitano]

Seattle had two versions of Dialing over the years. The classic one ran on KTNT (now KSTW) way back in the 70s. Later, KCPQ reserrected it in the mid-90s as part of a midday movie.

For the most recent version KCPQ used a 3x3 light board to indicate the daily count with cards for the jackpot, and they cut up phone books at first before settling on post cards. The callers themselves were never heard on the air.

[uncamark]

In Chicago, "Dialing for Dollars" ran on WFLD in the late 60s in two versions--as a half-hour show with interview segments and as a movie drop-in.  Both were hosted by Jerry G. Bishop (who is confused with the other Jerry Bishop in another thread), seems to me that he had a female co-host for the half-hour format.  The movie version was better because he did a lot of schtick, including comedy sketches, reminiscent of what he'd do with horror movies as Svengoolie as "Screaming Yellow Theater," complete with his audio drop-ins, even though most of the movies seemed to be ancient British films.

And in Chicago, we cannot let this thread go by without mentioning WLS' "Prize Movie" from 1969 through the early 70s every weekday morning at 8:30 a.m., hosted by the endearingly goofy, nasal-voiced Ione Rolnick (who went by her first name alone on the air).  Viewers sent in their post cards and during the RKO films that WLS has a lifetime contract to air, Ione would call them up and play them a song (after a while, she would exercise to the song while it played).  If they knew the easy song, they then had a chance to identify the obscure (and I assume mostly from the station stock library) Mystery Tune for the prize jackpot.  When Ione chatted with Bob Kennedy and his various co-hosts at the end of his "Kennedy & Co." show that came on before "The Prize Movie," he would often do some goofy miming that was a clue to the Mystery Tune title, if the viewers could pick it up.  (Not the Bob Kennedy who filled in for Bud Collyer on "Beat the Clock"--I think.)

Those of you radio geeks who might have episodes of Dick Orkin's "Chickenman" followup "Amazon Ace" will recognize Ione's voice--she played the female characters on that show.  (And her voice for the Jane takeoff character was pretty much like her real voice.)